A Choice
by ChloeHeidrich1228
Summary: After meeting and befriending Percy Jackson, Nico Di Angelo, and Will Solace, Brandy Sacchs has an important mission ahead of her, and an even more important choice.


**1 Nico**

"Welcome to Madison Prep," the student ambassador said as she showed Nico around the school. "I'm Brandy." She was pretty, but naturally and not in the 'yes, I'm hot, I know' type of way. Her dark brown hair fell in ringlets to her shoulders and her chocolate brown eyes seemed to contain all of Nico's hopes and dreams, holding them tantalizingly close.

"Nico," he responded shyly, shaking her hand. "Nico di Angelo."

"Ciao, signor di Angelo." Her Italian was perfect.

"Ciao, signora…" His voice trailed off as he realized she hadn't said her last name.

"Sacchs."

"Signora Sacchs."

She motioned to a set of heavy oaken doors. "This is the theater department. Nico could hear someone talking in a raised voice. Brandy held up a hand, signaling him to wait; she opened the door a crack and poked her head in. "Welcome," Brandy said, opening the door and holding it open for him. "Welcome to the stage." The room was absolutely huge, with crimson carpets and plush red velvet seating.

The voices had stopped and Nico looked around for the source. There was a skinny woman onstage, smiling playfully at Brandy. "Hello, Miss Sacchs!" she called, beckoning Brandy to her. "Help me with my demonstration."

"What do you _want_, PD?" She feigned anger, shooting Nico an apologetic look. 'Sorry,' she mouthed. "I'm in the middle of something."

"Your new student can watch. Come on, it's just stage fighting."

Brandy sighed and whispered an apology to Nico before walking down the aisle to the stage. "All the bells and whistles?" she asked.

"No stops, full fight." The woman smiled a wide, toothy grin.

"Perfect." Brandy smiled deviously.

The woman, who Nico assumed was a teacher, bounded offstage ebulliently. The first few rows of students sat awkwardly, looking around the stage. Nico followed their lead, noticing his surroundings. Around the theater, nine statues stood in alcoves along the wall. The stage took up the entire wall it was on, and from what Nico could tell, it was very large. The curtain was a deep crimson, matching the carpet and chairs. The walls themselves were designed in a Grecian style, with false marble pillars and columns carved into the plaster.

There was a clamoring onstage and Nico turned his attention back to the two women. Both now had swords hanging at their waists; Brandy's looked like it belonged hanging at her hip, but the other woman, PD, as Brandy had called her, looked strange. Brandy's scabbard was shorter, indicating she had a shorter sword.

"Hey, PD," Brandy began, smiling, "Your mother was a gerbil." Immediately, rage flashed across the woman's face, and she put a hand on the hilt of her sword. "No, scratch that," Brandy continued, smiling. "Your father was a hamster, and your mother smelled of elder berries." Monty Python. Nice.

PD drew her sword and swung. Brandy barely was able to dodge it, and the blade caught her shoulder. She screamed in pain as the sleeve of her shirt slowly turned red, blood trickling down her arm. Brandy unsheathed her weapon, something modeled after a piece of Greek weaponry. She blocked PD's next blow. They fought blow by blow with the weapons until Brandy twisted PD's sword and it flew out of her hand. Glancing at the fallen weapon, PD jumped agilely and kicked Brandy's weapon; it, too, went flying.

The two women then locked arms in a grappling match. They turned so that Brandy's back was to the audience and PD's fist shot forward; Nico heard a loud smack. Brandy's hand flew to her face and when she turned around, there was blood flowing from her nose. Retaliating, Brandy swept PD's feet out from under her with a low kick. The older woman fell, and Brandy looked out at the audience triumphantly.

"Now, we realize you guys don't carry swords around with you all the time," Brandy began as PD backed away slowly, unnoticed by the brunette, and retrieved her sword. Nico knew what was happening. Brandy's body suddenly went rigid and she gasped for air. Blood bubbled slowly out of her mouth as she fell to her knees. She spluttered and fell to the stage, dead.

PD looked at the sword. "No… no… what have I done?" The class erupted into cheering and Brandy stood, smiling happily. The two women bowed and Brandy jogged offstage.

She appeared at Nico's side seconds later, wiping her face off with a towel and spitting out pieces of plastic. "Blood bags," she explained, picking a piece off her tongue. "The taste is absolutely disgusting."

"Effective, though." Nico again noticed the statues.

"The nine muses," Brandy told him. She named them all, pointing to each statue. "Those two," she pointed to the two statues on either side of the stage. "They're Melopomene and Thalia. Muses of tragedy and comedy. They guard our stage and bless our performers."

"You know mythology," Nico noted coolly.

She nodded silently.

After a few moments' pause, the two continued. "I'm starving. Let's go get some lunch." Nico followed Brandy out of the theater and down the hall to a huge room with giant bay windows overlooking a tranquil forest, a courtyard filled with tables, and a beautiful lake. A few students in the school's green and white uniforms were hanging out inside, but most were outdoors, enjoying the early November warmth that southern Los Angeles frequently experienced. They got in line and received their lunches quickly. It was lasagna day. Brandy made a face and declined the dish offered to her, instead opting for a salad.

"You don't like lasagna?" Nico asked curiously, as they walked outside to the lake.

She laughed. "Only when it's cheese."

"Vegetarian?"

"No, I just don't like red meat."

The two sat at a table capriciously placed alongside the lake and Nico looked around curiously. The water was a beautiful shade of clear turquoise, which was odd because it wasn't moving as far as he saw. The shadows of the trees fell with grace onto the table. The sunlight danced through the leaves and cast a tinted light upon everything it met. The greenish light made Brandy's hair shine gently. Nico felt himself staring a little too long at her as the emotional barriers he had put up so long ago once again reappeared and started to strengthen themselves. It was maddening to feel the walls again, because it had taken a long time to lower them.

Suddenly, something was wrong. The birds had stopped chirping. The raucous chatter of Nico's fellow students had been silenced. "What's…" he started to ask what was going on, but Brandy put a finger to her lips. She drew a gold dagger from her sleeve and moved forward cautiously. A giant gold lion bounded from the forest and threw itself into their path. The Nemean Lion opened its giant maw and roared directly at Nico. It charged.

He dodged, but slightly too late. The lion raked its sharp claws across his shoulder, causing him to fly into the nearest tree. The thing turned to Nico again, sensing he had been weakened. Nico reached for his blade, but it wasn't there; he had left it in his new dorm under his bed, thinking he would have no need for it. Big mistake.

"Hey, ugly!" Nico heard Brandy call. The lion stopped in its tracks. It smelled the air and determined that Nico wasn't worth the effort. It turned on Brandy. It charged and she somehow convinced it to roar. While it had its ugly mouth open, she threw her dagger throwing-knife style. It hit its mark at the back of the lion's throat. The beast exploded into dust not three seconds later. _Who was this girl?_

Brandy dug through her purse and produced a Ziploc bag with a bit of golden bread in it. Nico recognized the bread as ambrosia, the food of the gods. "Eat. You'll feel better."

"Thanks." He took the ambrosia eagerly and began to eat.

"Judging by the fact that you weren't affected by the lion's presence, we're very similar," she said, digging her dagger from the pile of dust.

"That depends."

"Upon?" She sat beside him under the tree.

"What you are."

She pulled a crystal out of her pocket and held it up so the sun's rays created a rainbow. She threw a gold coin into it. "Iris, accept my offering." The coin, a drachma, currency of the gods, disappeared. "Chiron. Camp Half-Blood."

Chiron, the centaur in charge of activities at camp, appeared in front of the two. "Oh. Hello, Brandy. How's school going?" She adjusted the crystal to not lose the sunlight and show him Nico was there as well. "I see you've met Nico. How has your month away from camp been?"

"Fine, I guess."

"Except we were attacked by a Nemean lion," Brandy added.

"I figured it would come to this. Your scents combined must be very tantalizing to monsters." Brandy grunted. "What?" There was grumbling from Chiron's end of the conversation. "Oh, yes." Chiron glanced to his left as the grumbling continued. "Mr. D would like you to come back soon, Brandy. He has a very important job for you."

"Naturally." She had a smug look on her face. "When?"

"Before Christmas would be ideal."

"Okay."

"Can I come too?" Nico asked stupidly. He didn't know why, but he had a sinking feeling that she would need him on Mr. D's mission.

"If you want. I'm sure the mission could benefit from your abilities." Chiron said, nodding and stroking his beard.

"Well, I'll wrap everything up here and we'll see you in a few weeks," Brandy said before waving her hand through the image. Chiron faded and she put the crystal back in her pocket.

**Well, that was chapter one. This is still a work in progress story, so if you would like to see more, don't hesitate to review. I could really use a motivator, so... Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Chapter two will be up... eventually. **


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